A decade after the housing market collapsed, some borrowers’ credit scores still have not recovered. New data from Experian shows that from 2008 to last year, the average credit scores of consumers aged 72 and older declined from 772 to 732, marking the biggest drop for any age bracket. Kelley Motley, senior director of analytics at Experian, notes that older Americans carry higher amounts of revolving debt on credit and retail cards and use fewer cards, so they are drawing on those same lines of credit more often. The scores of consumers aged 51 to 71 fell from 723 to 706, while those aged 18 to 21 saw the biggest increase — from 616 to 639. The report also shows that credit scores rose 15 points for consumers ages 22 to 35 but slipped nine points for consumers aged 36 to 50.
MarketWatch (05/28/19) Andrew Keshner